Steps

• To prepare the carnival mask cookies, first make the butter shortcrust pastry. In a bowl, pour the flour, then create a well and place the egg yolks, sugar, and softened butter cut into pieces in the center. Also add the vanillin, and if you like, a pinch of grated orange zest, then start kneading by hand. Alternatively, you can use a stand mixer with the K-beater at speed 1, increasing to 2 if necessary after a few minutes.
  If kneading by hand, the mixture will initially be crumbly and seem not to come together, so at this point, you should start working the dough energetically until you obtain a smooth and compact dough.
  
  Now wrap the shortcrust dough in plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.

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  After the time has passed, take the dough out of the fridge, dust a work surface with flour, then roll out the dough, first the vanilla and then the cocoa dough, to a thickness of about half a centimeter. Then cut out your cookies with the mask-shaped cutters, or you can use the printable stencils I provide at the end of the recipe as a guide to cut your cookies with a smooth-edged knife.

• Place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Reform a dough ball with the leftover pastry and roll it out again, continuing to make cookies until all the ingredients are used up.

• Bake the cookies in a preheated oven at 340°F for about 12-15 minutes.

• Once baked, let them cool completely before proceeding with decoration.

• For the decoration, simply melt some chocolate of your preferred flavor in a double boiler and have fun decorating the cookies by adding some colored sugar sprinkles.